Opiate Drug Use Among Persons Entering Addiction Treatment in New Jersey
Opiate Use in New Jersey
Injection drug use is associated with high risk for transmission of bloodborne infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C. Since 1993, the proportion of persons admitted to New Jersey addiction treatment centers for illicit drug use who reported injecting drugs has increased, reversing a decline that began in approximately 1980 (1; Community Epidemiology Work Group, unpublished data, 2000). This report summarizes an analysis of trends in injection drug use among persons admitted to New Jersey addiction treatment programs during 1992–1999; the findings suggest substantial increases in injection use among young adult heroin users throughout the state of New Jersey and an increase in heroin use among young adults who reside in suburban and rural New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Data System (ADADS) provided data for this report, including demographic information, client reports of substance use before entering addiction treatment in New Jersey, and whether the client usually injected drugs (ADADS, unpublished data, 1999). Data were analyzed for clients admitted to drug rehab during 1992–1999 who reported using heroin and/or cocaine; admissions to inpatient detox programs were excluded. For this analysis, clients were categorized as 1) heroin users who did not use cocaine, 2) cocaine users who did not use heroin, and 3) users of both heroin and cocaine. To examine geographic patterns of heroin use and injection drug use, New Jersey cities, boroughs, and townships were categorized as either 1) urban areas including major cities (i.e., Newark, Paterson, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Camden, and Trenton) and other urban centers and surrounding areas (e.g., Atlantic City, New Brunswick, East Orange, and Hoboken) or 2) suburban and rural areas (Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, unpublished data, 1994).
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